vpb:It would be a good thing if they actually had to taste something like what they are called, but the whole business about having to make it in a certain place seems unreasonable.

When the product name was derived from the location it was created, it makes sense. Bordeaux is only made in Bordeaux. Champagne is only made in Champagne. EU laws are very strict about that. What do you think would happen if some foreign based company started to market "Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon? California wine makers would have a shiat fit.

brap:My Oscar has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R!My Oscar has a second name, it's M-A-Y-E-R!

*ring!*

Hello?

Yes, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I will immediately cease and desist on the use of your trademarked name.

GOT DAMMIT!

My processed meat discs have a first name it's the artist formerly known as O-S-C-A-R

My processed meat discs have a second name it's.....that's it, I QUIT

Is this the pirate community's version of "thanks, Obama"? I mean, the way you injected the Academy in there, likely intending to refer to the MPAA (neither of which would be the one sending C&Ds), and conflated copyright law with trademark law a la Dumb Starbucks...it was rather amazing.

The EU will ban American products in the same category if we don't go along. For example, if California sparkling wines were labeled "Champagne" or simply said "champagne method", ALL American wines would be banned in the entire EU.

In Quebec, the provincial government only wants French used in public, I heard on the radio that Italian restaurants in Montreal are being fined because they keep using the word "pasta" in their menus. Wait till they try this crap on the native tribes up north. Someone will get an arrow to the head.

doyner:If we had parmesan mozzarella or feta in this country, sure, that'd be annoying. Seeing as we have only colored and flavored plastic in our supermarkets, I see no reason for outrage.

I know typing that made you feel like some wildly well-traveled sophisticate but mozzarella doesn't travel well and thankfully, there are enough old Italians in Brooklyn that I can run out and get it the day it was made. Of course then they break my legs for not being able to pay the principle or interest on my three-year fronted mozzarella binge but that's another story for another time.

I believe Moët & Chandon tried this a couple of decades ago with 'champagne'. It didn't work out too well with the hoi polloi, but Moët did not surrender! They still does not use that word on their own sparkling wines.

I'm all for it. Stop calling stuff something that it's not just because it sounds good.

The EU will ban American products in the same category if we don't go along. For example, if California sparkling wines were labeled "Champagne" or simply said "champagne method", ALL American wines would be banned in the entire EU.

Since when does the EU buy American Cheese or wines? Before he got croaked, Steve Irwin used to campaign & lobby Australian authorities to ban American cheeses from it's shores.

The EU will ban American products in the same category if we don't go along. For example, if California sparkling wines were labeled "Champagne" or simply said "champagne method", ALL American wines would be banned in the entire EU.

Since when does the EU buy American Cheese or wines? Before he got croaked, Steve Irwin used to campaign & lobby Australian authorities to ban American cheeses from it's shores.

I don't know about our cheese, but California wine is quite popular in Europe.

I dunno that getting in a fight with the US over staple food sales and distribution is really a good plan, there, mister net-food-importer association of countries.

You can get away with this kind of nonsense with Alcohol, because nobody's a net importer or exporter of alcohol to a significant degree (and if they are, my money's on the US being on the importer end), but where staples are concerned the US is feeding like 80% of the world. We... we pretty much automatically win these kinds of disputes unless you can actually get us to agree to something without real conflict (i.e. there's a way around that doesn't cost us any money).

dprathbun:I believe Moët & Chandon tried this a couple of decades ago with 'champagne'. It didn't work out too well with the hoi polloi, but Moët did not surrender! They still does not use that word on their own sparkling wines.

I'm all for it. Stop calling stuff something that it's not just because it sounds good.

No, they use "champagne" because you can only say that if it comes from Champagne. And here's their label for proof.

The EU will ban American products in the same category if we don't go along. For example, if California sparkling wines were labeled "Champagne" or simply said "champagne method", ALL American wines would be banned in the entire EU.

Let 'em try- that would violate about a zillion trade agreements in place now, and there's some teeth in 'dem things. This is coming up as a question because we're currently trying to negotiate a trade deal with the EU as a whole, while right now we have a patchwork with bunches of different deals with different EU members. Even countries where we didn't have those deals wouldn't dream of pulling that- they don't want to find themselves in a trade war with the largest economy on the planet.

The EU wants this expanded protection for their designations, the US is going to laugh in their face, and if the deal falls apart, so be it. It doesn't mean a trade war with the EU, it just means things stay at the status quo.

OgreMagi:vpb: It would be a good thing if they actually had to taste something like what they are called, but the whole business about having to make it in a certain place seems unreasonable.

When the product name was derived from the location it was created, it makes sense. Bordeaux is only made in Bordeaux. Champagne is only made in Champagne. EU laws are very strict about that. What do you think would happen if some foreign based company started to market "Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon? California wine makers would have a shiat fit.

False equivalency. These are food items where the name describes the qualities of the food as much or more than its place of origin. "Napa Valley" says nothing about the wine other than where it came from.

A more accurate example was posted above: Buffalo Wings. What if we started throwing a fit any time someone offered Buffalo Wings that weren't made in Buffalo, New York? Or Philadelphia Cheesesteak, or New York Strip steaks, or Manhattan the drink, or Long Island Iced Tea, on and on and on.

Look, I get why brand name protection in these cases is important in Europe, because getting Parmesan cheese from Parma is quite possible. Easy even depending on where you are. In the US I doubt anyone thinks Parmesan comes from anywhere but the US. The names have been taken to describe the qualities that the products have, not their place of origin, and changing that is just not going to happen.